Chelsea's Law focus of upcoming hearings

MIRA MESA  Wearing an orange Chelsea’s Light bracelet that matched his tie, Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher on Friday announced an oversight plan designed to make sure that all of the elements of Chelsea’s Law — the legislation he championed after the murder of Poway teenager Chelsea King last year — be put in place.

With Chelsea’s parents, Brent and Kelly King, by his side during a news conference held at his offices in Mira Mesa, Fletcher said several hearings will take place this year designed to ensure various elements of the comprehensive and somewhat complicated piece of legislation will be fulfilled.

“Over the past year the State of California has embraced Chelsea’s law in getting it passed, but a law doesn’t mean anything unless it gets implemented,” Brent King said. “The worst thing that Kelly and I can imagine, other than what we’ve been through, is having another family go through what we went through because we didn’t implement the law.”

The best-known part of Chelsea’s Law was enhanced sentencing provisions for sex offenders, including a one-strike, life imprisonment provision for violent sexual predators who target children.

Chelsea, 17, and Amber Dubois, 14, of Escondido were abducted, raped and murdered by convicted sex offender John Gardner, who confessed and is now serving consecutive life sentences without the chance of parole or appeal.

In addition to enhanced charges, Chelsea’s Law also addressed a number of other areas.

Fletcher said a hearing will be held soon, probably in San Diego, concerning the overhaul of the statewide “containment model.” The model, he said, is a different approach managing sex offenders. It would include increased oversight, psychological evaluation, and polygraph testing of all sex offenders on parole or probation. The hearing will be held to make sure the reforms actually happen and are enforced, he said.

“I think we have an obligation to ensure that all of the effort that came together ... to get this done is not wasted by a bureaucracy that doesn’t enforce its actions,” he said.

A second hearing will be held to review the results of an audit that will be released in July of the Mental Health’s Sex Offender Commitment Program, which decides whether a person convicted of sex crimes should be considered a sexually violent predator upon their release from prison and therefore continue to be held in a state hospital.

A third hearing will take place on reforms under way to the global positioning surveillance system for sex offenders.

After Chelsea’s death, her parents established the Chelsea’s Light Foundation.

The Kings are in San Diego this weekend in part to interview finalists for the first-ever Chelsea’s Light Sunflower Scholarships for college-bound San Diego County students.

The scholarship fund is the beneficiary of the Finish Chelsea’s Run event held in March. About 5,400 people participated in the run at Balboa Park, and it raised $110,000.

Family spokeswoman Sara Muller Fraunces said $28,000 in scholarship money will be handed out next month to 10 students.

Just under 300 students applied by word-of-mouth only for the scholarships.